anticipating nothing in the second part but a narrative more or less
interesting, closed the old casement, festooned with cobwebs, and
resumed his seat without speaking.

"Now that I reflect further," continued the Abbe, "I think it will
not perhaps be unprofitable for you to have passed through this place,
although it be a sad experience you shall have acquired; but it will
supply what I may not have formerly told you of the wickedness of men.
I hope, moreover, that the result will not be fatal, and that the letter
we have written to the King will arrive in time."

"I heard that it had been intercepted," interposed Cinq-Mars.

"Then all is over," said the Abbe Quillet; "the Cure is lost. But
listen. God forbid, my son, that I, your old tutor, should seek to
assail my own work, and attempt to weaken your faith! Preserve ever and
everywhere that simple creed of which your noble family has given you
the example, which our fathers possessed in a still higher degree than
we, and of which the greatest captains of our time are not ashamed.
Always, while you wear a sword, remember that you hold it for the
service of God. But at the same time, when you are among men, avoid
being deceived by the hypocrite. He will encompass you, my son; he will
assail you on the vulnerable side of your ingenuous heart, in addressing
your religion; and seeing the extravagance of his affected zeal, you
will fancy yourself lukewarm as compared with him. You will think that
your conscience cries out against you; but it will not be the voice of
conscience that you hear. And what cries would not that conscience send
forth, how fiercely would it not rise upon you, did you contribute
to the destruction of innocence by invoking Heaven itself as a false
witness against it?"

"Oh, my father! can such things be possible?" exclaimed Henri d'Effiat,
clasping his hands.

"It is but too true," continued the Abbe; "you saw a partial execution
of it this morning. God grant you may not witness still greater horrors!
But listen! whatever you may see, whatever crime they dare to commit, I
conjure you, in the name of your mother and of all that you hold
dear, say not a word; make not a gesture that may indicate any opinion
whatever. I know the impetuous character that you derive from
the Marechal, your father; curb it, or you are lost. These little
ebullitions of passion give but slight satisfaction, and bring about
great misfortunes. I have observed you give